Light Up The Sky
by FluffyShallEatYou
Summary: Previously titled When Nothing Else Matters. Sequel to I See Fire. Years after the Summers siblings reunited, the institute is thriving as more mutants come out of the shadows. But as the world grows increasingly aware of mutants they began to take actions against them. Now the students of the Xavier Institute have to fight for their lives and the lives of everyone like them.


So I'm finally reposting the sequel of I See Fire. This used to be called When Nothing Else Matters.

This takes place in November of '64, roughly three years after the last Fic

Alexander Summers stared out a large window at a group of children in their early teens rough-housed on the grass. Sometimes, looking at the students of Xavier Institute, he still couldn't believe his eyes, even after three years. There were children here who looked as different from base-line humans as Hank did, that had the opportunity to laugh and act like teenagers with other kids their age without fear. It was, in a word, kids were different, but they had been spared from growing up as he had, terrified of himself, to the point of purposely getting himself locked in solitary confinement. They would have the chance to be kids, which was, in itself, a miracle. Of course, that these kids existed at all was miraculous, because, who would have thought that the world would fill up with grade A freaks who could do anything from read your mind to blow up a building with a world was a pretty fucked up place. Some of these kids, although the had the opportunity to understand their mutations much earlier than Alex ever had, had gone through hell. Thy had been experimented on, hunted by an organization that the government claimed didn't exist, used as weapons for other people's personal gain. It was awful, how many monsters were in the world.

"I know that sigh. Stop thinking things this instant, Alexander Summers." A stern voice called from behind him. He turned to see his sister frowning at him. Her ridiculously long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony-tail, and she was wearing a pair of track shorts and a too big t-shirt that had probably been his originally. "Today is a happy day," She continued. "We are finally eighteen. It is a celebratory occasion, so stop thinking, and come help me blow things up!"

Alex cracked a grin. It was unusual for Liz to be this happy at any given moment, and he couldn't help but respond to it with a feeling elation. She was right. It was their eighteenth birthday, and he wasn't going to spend it reflecting on how much it could suck to be a mutant.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Alex followed his twin sister down the hall, grinning. It was hard to believe that he had only known her for three years. Well, six if you counted the three before the plane crash. It felt like they'd never been separated, like he had known her forever, and could trust he with anything. Maybe it was a twin thing. Either way, it made him happy to see her so exited over something as small as a birthday."Alex knew that his sister hadn't ever had much for birthday celebrations growing up. It ad always just been her and could still remember the expression on hr face on there sixteenth birthday, the first one they had shared since their third, when she had walked into the kitchen to see a cake with 'Happy Birthday, Alex and Liz' scrawled across it in frosting. He had been a little surprised himself, but more because he hadn't thought anyone had known when his birthday was. Then he had realized that obviously Scott would have known. But the look on her face had been one of absolute childlike joy, and the entire day, she had gone around the mansion with a stupefied smile on her face. That expression hadn't failed to show up on their seventeenth their eighteenth was even more special to her, if she woke up at eight in the morning and wanted to go to the bunker. When the reached the cement room Alex snorted. Someone had filled it with 'Happy Birthday' balloons. Apparently this excursion was expected.

He was pretty sure this had to have been set up by a student, because Charles wouldn't have been able to pull it off, it was doubtful that Hank knew the date, and Scott wasn't an extravagant kind of guy. Of course, it could have been set up by Scott's she's-not-my-girlfriend, Jean, and Scott would have helped because it was Jean, and he would jump out of the Blackbird if she told him to, but that didn't seem much like something that Jean would do. She was more the kind of girl to wake you up holding a cake. Which she couldn't do because Alex and his sister had separate bedrooms.

Liz let out a high pitched eeping noise that could make Sean jealous, and looked around the room with wide eyes. Alex grinned down at her. This whole girly thing was kind of funny to watch, especially since it was so different from her normal turned to him with a wide smile.

"We get to shoot balloons." Her eyes got a kind of crazy glint to them.

They made a competition of it, separating the room across the middle and making sure the same number of balloons were on each side. They decided whoever popped all of their first-without just shooting an uncontrolled blast at the side of the room- got the first slice of cake. Liz won, but only because she kept shooting at big clumps of them so that one balloon would pop and set off a chain reaction. And maybe a little bit because Alex was to much of a softie to deprave his over excited sister of the wiped the sweat off his forehead and opened the door, holding it for his sister who was laughing hysterically for reasons he didn't know.

They walked past one of the labs, occupied by Hank, and his head poked out of the door.

"What on earth has Liz so jubilant?" He asked in his usual nerdy way.

"Someone filled the bunker with balloons.' He nodded at the blue guy. Hank was a nerd. And a geek. And he did still occasionally call him Bozo, but their was a sort of understanding between them. They were friends. Not as close as Alex and Sean, but they were.

"Oh." Hank got a funny expression on his face. 'I take it that its your birthday?"

Alex nodded.

"Huh. I could have sworn it was still September."

Alex snorted.

"Beast, man, you have got to pay more attention to whats going on outside of this cellar."

"Yes. Well. Happy Birthday."

Alex snorted.

"Thanks. I'm going to go catch Liza before she terrifies the newer students."

He headed down the hall to find Liz sitting on the bottom step of the stairs. She was tapping her foot at a ridiculous speed.

"There you are! C'mon I want cake!"

Alex shook his head. His sister was something else.

"You, are such a child", he told her, amused./p  
"Nuh uh. We're eighteen now. Adults." Her lips were pursed and her eyes wide as if he was a misbehaving three year old that she didn't find amusing.

"Okay, whatever. Lets go eat cake."

"I get the first piece." She reminded him.  
"I know."

They reached he kitchen where Scott was leaning against the counter, sunglasses glinting in the light. His arms were crossed, but his lips were pulled into the closest thing to a smile that Alex ever saw on his face.  
Liz looked around the room, eyes looked up at their older bother.

"cake?"There was a kind of desperation in her voice. Alex understood. Their birthday celebrations had become normal for them. She didn't want anything to mess up her new normal. It was kind of sad that she was still worried that normal wouldn't stay? That the relative happiness that they'd possessed for the past few years wouldn't last. But he understood, he still felt like that sometimes.

Scott's smile dropped and you could see his eyebrows raise behind the glasses.  
"Cake? you expect cake? What do you think it is? You birthday?"

Alex rolled his eyes. Scott could be really annoying, and sometimes he treated them like they were younger than they really were, but he meant well.

Besides,it was funny watching him try to keep his normal serious expression on his face as Liz stared at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh don't be mean to them, Scott" Jean swept into the room, waist length red hair floating behind her. She smiled at Alex and Liz. "Happy birthday. Don't worry, Scott's just messing with you. Go sit down." She shooed them towards the table. Jean was a very commandeering person, and the mother hen type, and honestly Alex thought she was perfect for his brother, if only Scott would get his head out of his ass and ask her out.

He sat down next to his sister and watched as Charles wheeled in followed by Sean, a little Asian girl that was friends with Liz, named Jubilation, the poor girl, Hank, who had ventured from his lab, Warren, a kid whose father, a filthy rich owner of the lead technology company, Worthington industries had kicked him out of the house, and had, by default of no other option, not left the mansion for two years. This was the group that made up their little freaky family. It was extremely dysfunctional, but it was his, and Alex hadn't had much of a family to speak of before meeting Charles, so honestly it was kind of awesome.

Jean walked up the the table and slid across a cake, not very big, because there were only nine of them, shaped in a big 18, topped with that many candles. Alex nudged Liz with his elbow, as their friends began a chorus of "Happy Birthday", reveling in this moment of perfect bliss.


End file.
